We’re sure you’ll agree with us when we say there is little that can beat the capping off of your day than a fresh, delicious and affordable meal — one that is made right at home in the kitchen.
And with HelloFresh, exactly that can happen every single evening!
If you’ve spent any time online, or even watching the TV for that matter, there’s a good chance you’ve seen a tonne of advertising on HelloFresh here in Australia, and that’s down to the company landing with quite the bang in Oz.
For those who don’t know, HelloFresh is a simple meal delivery service that gives Aussies the chance to have their meals’ ingredients pre-selected, prepared, boxed up and ready to cook — and delivered right to the front door.
This means you’re able to get going on your nightly dinners, or daily lunches without having to worry about shopping at all. It’s simply all there for you!
However, a lot of our readers have a few questions — including how much HelloFresh costs, the pros and cons and whether HelloFresh is worth choosing over the competition.
In our article, we’ll cover all of these things and more.
Take a look.
The Cost of HelloFresh Here in Australia
Off the top, it’s good to note that HelloFresh initially started in the German and US markets, and so a lot of the pricing you’ll see online or advertised by your favourite influencers may be a little off, or out of date when it comes to our market here in Australia.
That in mind though, HelloFresh will have your average cost per meal landing between $9.50 and up to $11.50 depending on what it is you’ve chosen as your weekly meal option, and if you have any sort of discounts.
Compared to the Other Kits
To most people’s surprise, HelloFresh isn’t the only meal kit service out there, and there are a few on the market that really challenge the brand when it comes to pricing, though thanks to HelloFresh’s dominance and longevity in the market — it does offer a superior experience in most cases.
You’ll find that Marley Spoon, the main HelloFresh competitor, offers pricing nearly identical to HelloFresh and so for this brand, you’ll need to consider any of the other niche features and perks when compared to HelloFresh, as pricing isn’t going to help you decide here.
On to Dinnerly, however, and you’ll find that this meal service is far more affordable than HelloFresh in almost all cases. You’re going to be able to rely on Dinnerly for more simplified meals though, something that HelloFresh doesn’t yet offer.
The third brand challenging HelloFresh here in Australia is the Thomas Farms Kitchen that is delivering ingredients from local businesses. The cost is, again, similar to HelloFresh here, in that you’ll be able to get your hands on three meals for two people for around $69 which makes it the same as HelloFresh — give or take a few cents.
As for the biggest meal kits out there, Marley Spoon does come with family-sized pre-packed ingredients for $10 less than HelloFresh meals of a similar size, and this means for those with larger families, you might be better off choosing Marley Spoon.
The Perks of HelloFresh
To make the choice with HelloFresh a little easier, we’ve outlined some of our favourite perks, and the perks users online seem to love the most. These might help you better understand whether the service is best for you — or if you’re better off sticking to your old school grocery list and prepping your meals at home on your own.
You’re Skipping the Queue
Off the top, our favourite perk is that you’re not going to need to head out to the supermarket as often if you’ve signed up to HelloFresh. This essentially means that you’re saving time and getting a little more time to spend at home.
On top of this, you’re not going to need to spend that tedious 3 days a year in a supermarket that most Aussies do! That’s three extra days to spend with the family, or out and about.
Delicious Meals are a Winner for the Kids
We all know that the little ones of the house are a bit more fussy and less keen on the greens than us adults, and when it comes to HelloFresh you’re taking care of a lot of the dinner table drama.
A lot of reviewers online have outlined that HelloFresh makes dinner times a lot more fun, and with little to no prep work required, the experience in making dinner is more streamlined and fun for the kids to help out.
To add, HelloFresh puts plenty of fun and unique twists on some common healthy foods, and this means you’ll be able to rely on the HelloFresh meals to be a favourite for even the kids who don’t like the veggies all that much!
Dinner’s Ready in a Flash
The HelloFresh marketing team aren’t lying when they say that the meals take just thirty minutes to get ready.
You’ll be able to prepare and cook your HelloFresh meals in just thirty minutes, and the packaged foods and recipes have been designed to ensure this, and that means dinner is ready at home faster than ever before.
However, you’ll need to factor in your own cleanup time once all your meals are done cooking.
Saving Time Can Save Money
For the time poor parents or entrepreneurs out there, the time it takes to shop, prepare and cook dinner can really shave off some productivity hours in your day — and so when it comes to saving money, HelloFresh might come in clutch here too.
Of course, the cost of a meal is only $9 on average, though this meal is also practically done for you. You have no need to waste time preparing and setting up these meals and so you can have lunch or dinner done in a flash and get right back to work, making money.
That in mind, we highly suggest the low-cost HelloFresh meal services for those who are time poor and need a simple and easy way to get a healthy meal in during a few nights of the week.
The Downsides to HelloFresh
With all great services, there are some minor downsides that could make or break the service for you. However, we are glad to say that there aren’ttoo many issues coming from HelloFresh at all — and that’s a major plus when it comes to our food.
We could only find three major downsides to HelloFresh based on online experiences and reviews, and we’ve detailed these below for you.
Delivery Issues Once in a While
One of the first downsides and things you’ll need to keep in mind when it comes to HelloFresh are the delivery issues.
Although these issues don’t happen often, though they still do occur, and so sometimes you may find that either your meal kit delivery was delayed, or there was a missing ingredient or essential item in your package.
You will notice that there is a smooth way to fix this that results in a partial store credit amount, and you’ll be able to use this when it comes to getting your next meal, however you will still have lost an ingredient nonetheless.
Not ideal.
Customer Service Problems
A second thing we ask you to keep in mind are that there are sometimes issues with customer service on HelloFresh.
For some users of the service, there have been the slow response times when it comes to issues, and also customer service staff not being able to help out much at all when it comes to an issue, and this has since meant that orders which were cancelled were still delivered and charged to user accounts, for example.
To end, there are call centres used by HelloFresh that do offer faster and more helpful response times, though getting a hold of these teams can be quite difficult.
A Little Too Much Waste
To end, one other downside is the rubbish that the service seems to make.
If you are someone who’s keen on reducing their waste and environmental impact, you’re going to want to consider looking somewhere else. The HelloFresh service includes a tonne of small plastic wrappers and ice packs that come in their boxes each week, and although they are reusable at home, you will end up with a massive collection of these over time.
In all, for our readers who want to cut back on their waste, it might be better off looking for a more eco-friendly meal kit service.
Opening the First HelloFresh Box
If you have decided that HelloFresh is for you, and you’re wondering a little more about the experience of unboxing your HelloFresh box, then we have some insights for you! We have gotten our hands on a HelloFresh meal kit and gone ahead and detailed the process of getting our hands on the boxes.
The first thing you’re going to notice when you open a HelloFresh box is that the ingredients are nice and neatly laid out and simple to find when it comes to getting them from the box to the fridge, or to your countertop.
Every single time in here is carefully packed on its own and comes with nice and neat labelling so you know exactly what’s what, and what needs to be mixed with which food — helping to further make things simple.
There are also recipe cards included in here, and this will mean you have a clear set of instructions to follow when it comes to making the meals you’ve ordered, a great perk and something that keeps you from needing to hop online to get more details.
In all, our favourite part was just how clean and simple the packaging was and how simple everything was to follow. There are also a few eco-friendly materials coming to play in here, like the recyclable paper bags.
To end, as you may be wondering, everything in these boxes really is fresh and healthily organised. There aren’t any odd preservatives coming into play here, and the foods in each box are locally sourced and fresh!
Making Your First HelloFresh Meal
Once you’ve opened your HelloFresh box and worked on getting everything into your kitchen and ready to make, we’re happy to say that the process is incredibly simple and easy.
All you’ll need to do is pull out the recipe cards and instructions and move on from here, and you’re all good to go.
In fact, HelloFresh has made the cooking process so simple that it’s just about impossible to stuff it up.
One thing to note, however, is that some of the staple foods required for some of the recipes won’t be included in the HelloFresh box, given that you likely already have these in your home — flour and oils, for example.
The recipe cards will show you everything you need to know such as:
- The Cooking Time
- The Difficulty Level
- Nutritional Information
- Any Allergens
And with all of those points out of the way, you’ll be able to determine whether the meal is worth making right away, or whether it’s best saved for another evening.
The Takeaway
With all of our points above out of the way, we’re sure that you’re able to see HelloFresh is a winner in our book. The brand makes it effortless to get a fresh and healthy meal each evening and for an incredibly affordable price.
However, when compared to shopping and meal prepping on your own, HelloFresh can be a little costly, though we will say that you’re paying for the time you’ve saved.
The process is incredibly simple and streamlined, and so if you’re someone who likes to get out of the kitchen as soon as possible, HelloFresh is something we would recommend for you.
